Black Collar Sex Crime Round-Up: October 14, 2009
Fred Lenczycki • Eddy Mijares
Pujiono Cahyo Widianto • Franklin Wray
Because we could spend 24/7 tracking the sex crimes of right-wing religionists (especially “youth pastors”) and never get caught up. Of the following, the more interesting cases will probably end up with their very own Conservative Babylon entries.
Sentenced: Randy Brock, 41, pastor, Liberty Baptist Church, Fircrest, Washington, to one year in jail, suspended, and a $300 fine, after pleading guilty to making repeated obscene phone calls to young female baristas at a coffee shop near his church. Brock, who would ask the women “sexually explicit questions” about their bras and panties, blamed his victims for wearing “revealing clothing” as the reason he made the calls. Brock refused to talk to a local news station, saying only that “he thought the case and guilty plea would never be made public.” Brock is married and the father of four young girls. The church’s Web site has gone black (literally) with a “temporarily under construction” notice. Story: KIROTV.com, October 6, 2009
Acquitted: Fr. Cesare Burgazzi, 51, a Vatican priest who led Rome police on a high-speed car chase that left three officers injured and two squad cars wrecked when he refused to stop while cruising a red-light district, “of causing damage, injuries and resisting arrest, because,” in a bizarre ruling, the judge proclaimed “‘the facts did not constitute a crime.’ … Stunned lawyer Daniela D’Apice, who had been defending the officers and was also looking for 20,000 Euro in damages for injuries suffered, said: ‘If refusing to stop, driving off at high speed, crashing into a police car and injuring officers does not constitute a crime I don’t know what does.’” Story: Conservative Babylon, October 8, 2009; Daily Mail; Adnkronos International, October 13, 2009
Sentencing rescheduled: Craig Coon, 46, former youth pastor, Cornerstone Church, Clyde Township, Michigan, for October 19, 2009. Coon was arrested in July on a felony charge of “accosting a child for immoral purposes” involving an incident with a 13-year-girl in November, 2008, and pleaded guilty last month. Story: Times Herald, July 10, 2009; October 13, 2009
Released: Fr. Fred Lenczycki, 65, first Roman Catholic priest in the U.S. to be declared sexually violent, freed from custody at the Rushville, Illinois, state mental hospital September 24, 2009, over objections of state prosecutors. Lenczycki “admitted inappropriately touching 31 boys, ages 9 to 17, while serving in six churches for 25 years until 1999, when he took a forced retirement.” Lenczycki, by the way, is still a priest; the Vatican decided against defrocking him. Story: Daily Herald, March 14, 2008; Naperville Sun, March 20, 2008; Daily Herald, July 8, 2009; WGN, September 24, 2009; Illinois Sex Offender Information
Sentenced: Eddy Mijares, 41, former co-pastor, Covenant (Orthodox) Presbyterian Church, Greece, New York, to 4-2/3 to 14 years for raping and impregnating a 13-year-old girl from his church. Accused in 2007 and freed on $5,000 bail, Mijares, a Cuban national, skipped to Venezuela, which returned him to the U.S. in January, 2009. Story: WIVB.com, October 8, 2009
Acquitted: Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, Indonesian Muslim cleric, of “child sexual molestation charges for marrying an underage girl, aged 12 last year.” Story: Adnkronos International, October 14, 2009
Arrested: Franklin Leroy Wray, 62, superintendent, Leary, Texas, Independent School District, former pastor of several North Texas churches, and most recently music minister, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, and charged with one count of indecency with a child, involving “inappropriate physical contact with an underage male.” Story: ArkLaTexhomepage.com, October 7, 2009; Bowie County Citizens Tribune, October 10, 2009
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